Attleborough grandmother’s £10,000 gift for children in Uganda
Gaye Youngman works with the chaRity Africa With Love and has donated money to the charity to build a dormitory on a school complex it runs. - Credit: Archant Norfolk
While many of us have dug into our pockets to give money to charity at some stage in our lives, few have gone the length of Gaye Youngman.
The 68-year-old of Blackthorn Road, Attleborough travelled out to Uganda with the charity Africa With Love because she wanted to experience a 'riches to rags' journey and find out how young people coped in developing countries.
When she returned after the two-week trip, she was so bowled over by what she saw that she made what many would consider to be a life-changing decision - to give £10,000 of her own money to help build accommodation for children at a boarding school.
The grandmother-of-three could not easily afford the donation, having to sell jewellery and watches to raise the funds as well as delve into her own savings.
However after getting full support from her husband Chris, Mrs Youngman said the donation was 'worth every penny'.
'I wanted to see what it was like and how those children lived,' she said.
'There are people that say they've got nothing but they've got a TV, a family and a car. These people have got nothing. Some of those children don't even know who their parents are or when their birthday is.
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'It made me feel quite humble, the fact I'd got what I had.'
The money will go towards building basic accomodation for children at a boarding school in Masaka.
However Mrs Youngman - who has also worked for Mencap and has supported the Big C cancer charity in Norfolk - still wants to raise another £4,000 to provide equipment for building.
She spoke of the poverty and lack of resources she saw in Uganda, saying she felt 'guilty' at going back to a hotel each night while children lived on a diet of posho and beans.
Rosemary Willard, of Steeple Chase, Drayton, who runs Africa With Love with her husband George, said Mrs Youngman's donation was 'quite a surprise'.
She added: 'We take lots of people to Uganda and hope someone might do something like that, so when they do it is a great help.'
Anyone interested in donating should visit www.africawithlove.co.uk
Are you doing something special for charity? Email newsdesk@archant.co.uk
